Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Oct 15, 2020
This week’s theme
Words about words and language

This week’s words
endonym
basilect
metonymy
homeoteleuton
heterophemy

Like what you see here?
Send a gift subscription

Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

homeoteleuton

PRONUNCIATION:
(ho-mee-o-TEL-yuh-ton)

MEANING:
noun: A repetition of the same or similar endings in a sequence of words.

ETYMOLOGY:
From homeo- (similar) from Greek homoio + -teleutos, from teleute (end). Earliest documented use: 1592.

NOTES:
The word also refers to a form of scribal error where a copyist’s eye skips to a word with the same ending one or more lines below where they were.

USAGE:
“Fittingly, the poem rhymes abab, although the ‘b’ rhyme in the first stanza is more homeoteleuton than true rhyme.”
Al Benthall; Worlds of Eye and Ear in the Poems of William Harmon; The Mississippi Quarterly; Jan 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
One will rarely err if extreme actions be ascribed to vanity, ordinary actions to habit, and mean actions to fear. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (15 Oct 1844-1900)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith